REBECCA BELLE
HARRISON IRVINE, born in Mr. Vernon, Ohio, was the 5th child
and 4th daughter of James Callender Irvine and Martha Nevin
Bartlett, and appeared in June 1837. As known to relatives and friends
alike Aunt Becky was named after the wife of President Benjamin Harrison.
She married Charles Fowler Baldwin, her next order sister’s widower, in
1877. Since his death on 23rd Oct., 1896 Aunt Beck has been the
constant companion of her older sister Martha E. With her she visited her
brother James Clarke in Oregon, Mo. and her Uncle Robert in Pleasant Hill,
Mo. Yet two sisters could not be more unalike. In contrast to the
plainness of dress, austerity, and sharpness of tongue of Aunt Matt; Aunt
Becky was all fluffs and furbelows followed the latest fashions and beauty
hints and was kindness and sweetness itself right to the end. She
officiated as housekeeper in the old E. Gambier home, remained physically
active and socially receptive until a few months prior to her demise –
which followed many weeks of suffering from a broken hip. No chick of her
own yet she mothered her sister Mary B.’s daughter Maimee with all the
affection imaginable.

The tone and implication of her
obituary aptly depicts her character and life: -

"LIFE RESIDENT OF CITY DIES

MRS. REBECCA IRVINE BALDWIN PASSES
AWAY AT HOME SUNDAY

Mrs. Rebecca Irvine Baldwin aged 87,
died at 1 o’clock Sunday morning at her home, 110 E. Gambier St., as a
result of complications. Mrs. Baldwin fell last fall and fractured her hip
and had been in failing health since that time. In mourning the passing of
Mrs. Baldwin Mt. Vernon honors one of the children leaving their generation
of rich memories with the life of today. Few indeed are the occasions when a
community can boast of a daughter whose life has so intimately touched the
development of its social and civic spirit in such a period of time.

As a child, youth, wife, and widow,
Mrs. Baldwin’s life was an ideal worthy of emulation, and an inspiration
of countless aspiration beyond the field of her home city. Born in 1837,
living all her days here, it may well be said that her home and influence
were a Mt. Vernon Institution, the family seat at 110 Gambier Street having
been established by her father nearly a century ago.

Widely known for her charitable and
womanly qualities Mrs. Baldwin’s passing is mourned by a host of dear
friends.

In 1877 she was united in marriage to
the late Mon. Charles F. Baldwin, one-time publisher of the Republican News
and long a leader in the civic life of the city. Bereft of this ideal
companionship in 1896 Mrs. Baldwin has ever since maintained the family home
with her venerable and loved sister, Martha Irvine, devoting herself to the
domestic and social responsibilities of her position and making of her
hospitable home a veritable Mecca for the large circle of relatives and
friends who regarded her as more than mother, guardian, and friend, and who
now, with all who now, with all who knew her, mourn her loss and honor her
with loving memories.

The funeral service was read at 2:30
o’clock by Rev. Donald Wonders, Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church,
of which Mrs. Baldwin had been a life long member. Interment was in Mound
View Cemetery.

She is survived by her sister, Miss
Martha Irvine, two nephews, Robert B. Armstrong, and L. C. Irvine, of
Mobile, Ala., a grand niece, Mrs. Thomas Bogardus, of Mt. Vernon, and these
grand nephews – Bishop Dickenson, of Newark, Ohio, Dr. Adrian Irvine and
A. C. Dickenson, of Cleveland, Ohio.